Want to take 21 week old swimming, do I need to go to 'proper' baby sessions?

[Hopeysgirlwasntbig]

Or can I just go along to the normal family sessions. I've looked online at things like aquababy, they look fab, but are rather costly. I've ordered DD a baby wetsuit to keep her warm in the water.

Any other suggestions?

i asked HV about this you can go to normal family sessions, she just suggested i go to one where i know water is warm and not stay in too long. never went though she seems to have got a dislike of water since i asked. bath time is enough trouble.

we went from when ds was about 12 weeks old. He just wore a swim nappy with no wetsuit but our pool has a training pool which is a few degrees warmer than the main pool (around 33/34 degrees compared with 30 degrees in the main pool). We went (and still go) to the normal swimming sessions on a saturday morning - it is a family trip with dd (4), ds (16 months), me and dh.

We park the buggy near the side of the pool at the wall and put the towels, shampoo, etc on it and when we get out the water we put the towels on the kids straight after showering so they dont get cold on the way to the changing room. We get the kids dressed first and then strap ds in his buggy with a snack and drink (not when he was younger - he got a toy or something instead) while we get dressed.

We always put our costumes on under our clothes before going to the pool (except for ds as swim nappies hold very little) but remember to take underwear with you!!

no no - just go along by yourself - i bought the usbourne book on teaching your child to swim which gave a few hints (and gave me lots of confidence)

started off by just getting DS used to the feel of the water and only staying in for a short time - gradually he got more confident - we moved to armbands (and away from attaching himself to me like a limpet)

he is 3 now and swims with armbands, leaps in off the side with glee and I have saved a fortune on "baby swim" classes - plenty of time for swimming lessons later in life

by the way - any of the family sessions are normally quite friendly and they put toys out for the kids at many pools

Don't bother with the special 'baby' sessions. For a successfull swim, imo, you need:
warm water
squeaky bath toy or ball (in case pool don't have any out)
to go during a quiet time when its not as splashy

Don't expect to spend longer than 20 minutes the first time.

If its a very small baby, I'd personally just fill the bath up very deep, and get in with baby - much less faff, far more convenient, and much cheaper incase they end up howling!

I'd go with someone else - a friend with a little one, or dh/dp. It can be very boring going on your own.

I took Ds from about 8 weeks and have never been on a course! If you are in the baby pool you don't normally need a wetsuit as long as the pool is well-heated, however do take a towel to the edge of the water so you don't have a long cold walk to the changing room.

Those rubber-rings with integral seat thingies (tell me if you don't know what I mean and I'll google you a pic) are quite good if you are going on your own as they enable you to put the baby down for a sec and relax your back - otherwise it can be very tiring.

that's fab advice. Looks like I'll be saving quite a bit of money then! theyoungvisitor, I've ordered one of those inflatable seat thingys, thanks

Good idea about the bath!

the ring things are very usefull to give yourself a chance to wriggle. As much as possible though its good to hold baby as low down in the water as you can ie so they are submerged to their shoulders. They'll be far more confident later on if they get used to being at surface level.

thanks wrigglejiggle. I'm hoping that my order from jojo maman bebe arrives early next week. I'll post when we've been.